Hey Aflo,
I'm glad you WON.
I used to build computers, but I don't anymore. I have something of a partnership with Dell now. I help people pick the Dell for their budget, and send that to a salesman who gets them the best deal. I don't get anything from That, but they usually have the new PC shipped to me, where I copy everything from the Old one and put it on the New one. That's where I get paid, so it works for both of us.
AFAIC, Toshiba
Bytes the Big One over all that Proprietary stuff. They make pretty good computers, but I'd never
buy one for myself. Yes, I figured it all out, but now that customer wants to stay with Win8. I would have had to learn it sooner or later, so it's all good. Google to the Rescue!!! I really need to get Win8 running on something of my own, so I'll be ready for it when they start rolling for Repairs.
When it comes to those kinds of Virus and Spyware infections, I don't try to Beat them anymore; at least, no Heroics. I mount the hard drive in a dedicated computer and run scans to clean it up as much as possible. Sometimes, it can be put back in the original computer, but most often, there's been too much damage done to the OS and/or installed programs to try to recover from. I find it more expedient to simply mount that hard drive back into My computer, and save All Data onto My computer, and then Format and Rebuild that hard drive in the original. Customers tend to lose their
sense of humor when a repair takes too long, so I only give Repair efforts about a day or two; then I Rebuild. Plus, this way, it's like Factory Day-One Brand New again... as Fast as it's ever going to be. I did those kinds of "Heroics" for myself recently, but that PC really needs to be Rebuilt. However, WinXP is on the way out, so I never bothered. It is just a Backup now.
And Yes, Family generally gets a Free Ride. Though some of them actually do pay me, and I will accept it when they offer.
To get the word out, I talk with people and pass out Business Cards, and I'm listed online in Phone Book sites. I also get a Lot of referrals from my generally very satisfied customers. I've been amazed by both the number of referrals, and people who have kept a Business Card for Years, and remembered me to call upon again years later when they needed help again. I'm about 50/50 Residential and Business.